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Monthly Archives: March 2017

India is on a path of deep-rooted reform. Many initiatives have been triggered that will see fruition this year: Implementation of RERA (with a deadline of May 17), appointment of a Real-Estate Regulator, credit ratings of municipal corporations, issuance of municipal bonds by cities, introduction of GST, and much more. While these shifts do cause disruption in the regular flow of commerce and require systemic adjustment, India can afford this exercise as growth numbers are robust enough to absorb the shocks of change.

Now, however, all eyes are on public spending, which can bring the mojo back. An amount of Rs 3.96 lakh crore (against Rs 3.48 lakh crore the previous year) has been budgeted for infrastructure with Rs 2.41 lakh crore for transport alone. A separate amount has been provided for metro projects to the tune of Rs 18,000 crore and, similarly, among other schemes like Swachh Bharat, Bharatnet, Deen Dayal Jyoti Yojana, etc.

The government´s record last year gives us a reason to believe that spending has gathered momentum as the chains of bureaucracy are being delinked through transparency and accountability. However, it is important that the urgency shown in preponing the dates for the Budget should crystallise into an early disbursal of funds for the projects.

A favourable poll result for the ruling party will accelerate government programmes. Renewable power prices, including solar and wind, seem to have ushered in hope for improvement in production costs for India´s manufacturing sector. Labour costs have risen geometrically for all industries. Also, with rural electrification being implemented on a war footing and Bharatnet expected to make high-speed broadband on a fibre-optic network available by 2017-18 in more than 1.5 lakh gram panchayats, the aspirations of the population will explode countrywide. Lag in power availability stunted our progress; but states are resurrecting their power finances with UDAY.

Further, housing, which was the topic of our cover story last issue, is likely to gallop as it has now been given ´infrastructure´ status and the Central Government is providing interest subvention for ´affordable housing´. ´With an additional interest subvention of 3-odd per cent offered by states, housing demand can skyrocket,´ stated the Union Minister of Urban Development and Housing, while launching the new logo of CW at a conference organised by PHD Chamber in Delhi recently. What´s more, the smart cities mission is quietly making progress with 30 of the 60 identified cities having organised SPVs and appointed CEOs. Tenders are being issued and over 90 projects are underway. To discuss smart solutions that can be executed in the Indian context across cities, Smart Cities Council India is organising the 4th SM@RT CITIES SUMMIT at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from March 15-17. For details, visit www.SmartCitiesSummit.in.

Indeed, the vote is for development all the way. And if all political parties realise this, we are likely to see development as a common agenda with each vying to outdo each other. Then, the good times would have truly begun.